Uncategorized

Thursday, November 20, 7:00 – 9:00 pm

“the young dead soldiers do not speak,
Nevertheless they are heard in the still houses: who has not heard them?
they have a silence that speaks for them at night when the clock counts”
Archibald MacLeish

Calling all poets, slammers, word smiths, lyricists, play writes, rappers, misfits, musicians and anyone who has the gift of gab! We are hosting Midnight Voices, a monthly collaborative coffeehouse, spoken word, and poetry series at Friends Meetinghouse Cambridge (5 Longfellow Park). This event is open to everyone. This month’s featured reader is Vietnam veteran Doug Anderson.

After the featured reader, there will be 5 min open mic slots available to anyone. We encourage first timers and seasoned performers to come out. We are actively seeking co-sponsors and talent to be featured readers in upcoming months. If you have any ideas about this or want any other information please contact Eric Wasileski Ericwasileski@gmail.com

Read more →

Planning Meeting 6:00–9:00 pm, Monday, November 3, 2014

A New Expression of Quaker Witness & Spirit-Led Service for Young Adults On Sunday, October 5, 2014, FMC approved of serving as the Host Meeting for a Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) House in the Boston area. This will make Boston the third city to host a QVS House since the program’s initial launch in Atlanta, GA, in 2012.

Based on Quakers’ long-standing practice of living our faith, QVS offers young adults the transformative experience of engaging in service and social justice work while living together and practicing Quaker simplicity, worship, and decision making. Volunteers are placed in full-time professional positions in agencies and organizations that offer support to marginalized individuals and communities, and that work for social change.

In order to make this a reality in the Boston area for August 2015, the planning phases are underway. Help is needed, and gladly welcomed! Although there will be a local paid coordinator, we will have many opportunities to work on this project. For example, the program will need spiritual nurturers for the Volunteers, curriculum planning and training help, site placement ideas and connections to organizations, help finding and furnishing a local house, and fundraising and welcoming activities.

If you are interested in being involved with this project in any capacity, please come to the next planning meeting on Monday, November 3, at FMC from 6:00–9:00 pm. Ross Hennesy (QVS Assistant Director) and Noah Baker Merrill (QVS Board member and NEYM Yearly Meeting Secretary) will be sharing their wisdom and experience as we make our first planning steps.

Toward Right Relationship with America’s Native Peoples

7:00 pm, Sunday, October 26, 2014

Paula Palmer of Boulder (CO) Monthly Meeting will visit FMC on her East Coast tour to present this program she developed with Canadian First Nation leaders. Learn more about the power of the Blanket Exercise, in the aftermath of our decision in Business Meeting in Worship to repudiate the Doctrine of Christian Discovery.

Paula Palmer is a sociologist, writer, and activist for human rights, social justice, and environmental protection and director of Toward Right Relationship, a project of the Indigenous Peoples Concerns committee of the Boulder Friends Meeting (Quakers).

The New Story’s Therapeutic Value for Individuals and Communities

7:00 pm, Monday, October 27, 2014

Our foundational Cosmologies/Worldviews are the lens that we use to look at everything. How do they impact us on all levels, in ways we don’t even recognize, enlivening or deadening us? Historians, grade school teachers and churches are recognizing the integrating, healing potential of our New Origin Story. Come to a brown-bag supper with Jennifer Morgan at 6pm.

Jennifer Morgan is President of the Deep Time Journey Network and award-winning author of a Universe Story Trilogy for children that is used in classrooms around the world.

Sponsored by the New Story Group at FMC.

12:30 pm – 2:30 pm, Sunday September 28th
light refreshments in library at 12 noon.

This workshop is the first of three workshops on evolving Quaker spirituality sponsored by Ministry and Counsel and led by Cornelia Parkes. Light refreshments will be provided in the library at noon. Read more →

Proposal to Sunday 5 October 2014 Meeting for Worship for Business that Friends Meeting at Cambridge become the host Meeting for a Quaker Voluntary Service house in the Boston area.

Fiscal Year 2014–15 Budget for the National Quaker Voluntary Service organization.

What is Quaker Voluntary Service? How Can We Bring QVS to the Boston Area?
Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) is a national program that selects young adult Quaker applicants to be volunteers at social change agencies in a target city. (A large part of the costs are covered by the agencies employing the volunteers.) The volunteers live together and worship at local Friends Meetings and Friends Churches. At present QVS has programs in three cities — Atlanta (GA), Philadelphia (PA), and Portland (OR) — and after receiving a letter of interest from FMC in July, they have enthusiastically agreed to consider opening a program consider opening a program in Boston, which holds the possibility of collaboration between FMC and other area meetings (Beacon Hill, Framingham, Fresh Pond, Wellesley). We are in the process of learning more details about the benefits of such a collaboration; the plan is to come to Meeting for Business in Worship on October 5th with a concrete proposal.

From David Anick

Hello Friends,

Some of you know of my long-standing enthusiasm for the Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) program in which 20-something Quakers spend a year working for a non-profit while living in community with other Quakers. It’s a 21st century resurrection of the once proud Quaker Work Camps. You probably know that FMC submitted a proposal to become a host Meeting / host city for a QVS house. Our proposal has been accepted by the QVS board (yay!) and the issue will come to our Meeting for Business in Worship on October 5th, where we will talk about FMC making major commitments of fundraising and person-hours to the project.

Briefly, I would love to recruit more of you to the cause of making QVS happen in Cambridge. We will need folks who will do any of the following: talk with non-profit and activist groups to identify internship opportunities; fun(d)-raise; set up the furnished housing for the volunteers; and serve as spiritual mentors for the volunteers once they arrive. There is also a part-time job to serve as local coordinator — perfect for a YAF. Read more →

2:00 pm, September 21st, Boston Common, near Park Street Station
The Boston Celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace on the Boston Common near Park St. station. This event, co-sponsored by the Meeting features dance, music, song, story-telling, meditation and a walk to the Garden of Peace. Also, displays from peace organizations.

9:00 am, Sunday September 21st
Meet new Friends and get to know our community better in a small, informal setting. All are welcome!

A Workshop & Training

9am–1:30pm, Saturday, September 13, 2014, Friends Center Parlor & Library

Our Meeting receives as many as 10 to 15 visitors a week. Some have been invited by people who regularly worship with us. Some are from other Friends Meetings, attending while in town for a brief stay. Quite a few of our visitors are entirely new to us, being drawn to experience the meeting for worship and the life of the Spirit within our Meeting community. A Fellowship and Outreach Committee person greets us at the door, but what does it mean to truly welcome someone into the heart of the meeting? Read more →